Vietnam's rare Javan rhinoceros was declared extinct in that area after poachers killed the last remaining animal in the country for its horns, the World Wildlife Fund said.
“Vietnam must see this loss as another warning sign of its looming wave of species extinctions,” Dr. Barney Long, WWF’s Asian species expert, said in a statement. “The single most important action that is needed to save remaining threatened species like tigers and elephants is protection.”
The country had been struggling to keep the population alive amid widespread poaching that the WWF said was the cause of many Asian rhino species being brought to the "brink of extinction."
The WWF said people in certain parts of Asia believe the horns, when ground down and dissolved in boiling water, help treat typhoid fever or even cancer, the WWF said, noting that there has been no scientific proof of that.
The group said trying to bring the species back into the area won't work.
“Reintroduction of the rhinoceros to Vietnam is not economically or practically feasible," WWF’s Asian Elephant and Rhino Program Coordinator Dr. Christy Williams said. "It is gone from Vietnam forever."
So now, the Javan rhino only exists in one area in the world, according to the WWF.
The Javan rhinoceros is in danger of becoming extinct.
The group reported that there is one population of less than 50 animals in the Ujung Kulon National Park in Java, Indonesia. Now, workers will turn their attention there, working with anti-poaching patrols to hopefully keep the species from going extinct.
“For the Javan rhino, we now have to focus entirely on one site in Indonesia where strengthened protection is needed along with fast-tracking the proposed translocation and habitat management,” Long said.
Thanks for telling everyone in Vietnam where they can go and kill more of those animals .....as we speak they are getting a plane ticket to Java .....
They really want poaching to stop? They need to convince the d@mn Chinese that rhino horn and other such items are NOT an aphrodisiac. The black market for this stuff is rampant in China. As long as this ridiculous market exists there willb e poachers.
A lack of education makes it impossible for a person to understand the affects these actions will have on the species and the earth. Poverty, desperation and ignorance are to blame here. Money can make a man do the unthinkable, look what we do to eachother for it. Sickening.
A lack of education makes it impossible for a person to understand the difference between "effects" and "affects." Poverty, desperation and ignorance are to blame here. Sickening.
Why dont they capture and ship all 50 of them to a country/zoo where their protection and nurturing is guaranteed?
good point...why dont we take all the unemployed, retired and sick people and put them in a facility to take care of them and "nurture" them, then charge idiots like you admission to see them. Humans need to realize the planet is not ours for the taking...need to share it. Ignorant people like you need to be shipped off to Siberia for some "nurturing"
Yeah – – send them all to Ohio
It is a sad thing that it has come to that, but from a practical perspective, I think Jay Oh has a point. It will be impossible to protect them in the wild given the economic incentive of the poachers. Until that changes, they are better off as a species in protective custody, so to speak. Again, sad, but may be necessary.
Not the right way to save them but a valid question/suggestion. You should not be called an idiot for suggesting it. "Wow' on the other hand–Hey you, out of gthe gene pool!
Yeah, grand idea.....wait, who's gonna pay for that?
First the WWF loses Hulk Hogan now this rhino? What's next, Ravishing Rick Rude will die?
Trying to be funny - #FAIL
Ravishing Rick Rude? Should have went with Raven. Fit with your animal theme. And lest we forget The Wolverine.
Bubba, you are an ignorant person who should be extinct yourself. You have zero knowledge in anything other than yourself. You are a selfish and spineless person with no brains!
No Bubba, hopefully the next to go is YOU.
It would have been a bit more intelligent if this news story had not revealed where the last 50 of these great creatures are located. Poachers need to suffer the same fate as the animals they kill; cut off their horns!
Sup Niga! I wood had to eat them cause they soooo good!
Obvious troll is obvious.
If it was the very last one then it doesn't make any difference unless the freaking thing can pregnant itself. Otherwise, it would be just roaming and eating until old age then it dies. We should go after the person who killed the second to last one. In reality, that person really extict this animal.
So are the jews and the blacks, right?
LarryL it would be nice if you look into the future; we have learned from the past on what has been done to the Naive Americans and now being a Native American is not bad with most getting major government subsides. Bubba is in the "NOW" so why don't you focus on what he is saying and stop beating down the drums on your own country!
Oh well. One these thing to eat all the planets food!
Don't Feed The Trolls!
But Trolls Gonna Troll
But if we clip yo' azz ya'll roll.
and so are the bl@cks and the j3ws, right?